Sidetrip and Duxford

Since our next stops were going to take us near Alconbury and we no longer had a spare tire, we decided that we could take a sidetrip first thing to get the tire repaired. But first . . we slept through the alarms and awoke when our bodies told us it was time. Although it put our day slightly behind, we were all glad for the extra rest.

The packed lunch was not necesary since we were going to be on Alconbury and so we opted for American Fast Food . . Anthony's Pizza! We received some bad news when we took the tire to the garage . . they couldn't fix it by MOT standards as it was too badly worn. With the wear on that tire, they took a look at the remainder of the tires and pointed out some bad wear on all of them . . except for the spare tire. Having placed our order for 4 new tires, to be received within the next month we headed toward the food court.

Just outside the food court we noted that the new Ford Flex had arrived. Since David and I had seen it in a brochure and had debated the difference between it and the Ford Explorer, we took the oportunity to take a closer look. Then we ate pizza!!


When we arrived at Duxford, we noted that we had 2-1/2 hours to see 8 hangers and 1 Battle of Britain Operations hanger. Yikes! We got moving pretty quickly, with only minor delay observing the flying Spitfire, Dragon and Skyraider.



As we moved through the various hangers, the PA System kept giving us the countdown of how much time we had left. I'll admit spending more than I probably should have admiring the SR71 Blackbird which has always been one of my favorite planes. I also probably took too many pictures of the F15 . . but it was the closest I'd ever been to one. The museums here don't cordon you off from the exhibits so that you can only admire from afar . . these planes you could (if you weren't disiplined) reach out and touch, they were that close.

When the day was through, Antina noted that since they'd now seen Duxford, Mike was now out of the doghouse. In addition, as we swept through the giftshop, 2 pilot bears found new homes.

Duxford (and pretty much anything else of a site-seeing nature) having closed for the evening, we opted to head for our home base for the next couple of days - the Days Inn and get settled. Since the Days Inn was located at a Services location, we were able to take our pick of food options once we'd gotten settled.

As we ate, we discussed the options for Friday's events.